Sample display case



July 21, 1953 J. DALEO El'AL 2;646-,143

' SAMPLE DISPLAY CASE Filed Sept. 20, 1950 INVENTORS JAMES DALE 0 SAMUEL FOGL/O, JR. BY

idzllerfl umpfi ey Patented July 21, 1953 7 T SAMPLE DISPLAY-CASE James Daleo, LongiIslamLN. Y., and Samuel Foglio, Jr., Teaneok, N. J. a

. Application September 20, 1950, Serial No. 185,874

. This invention relates generally to salesmens sample cases and particularly to a folding portable type, convenient for being carried about from place to place.

In the present embodiment of the invention, the case is instantly convertible fromits portable form of a comparatively small closed suitcase, to a table or desk supported pair of open connected trays, one of which is of the easel type, standing upright, somewhat rearwardly inclined, in which the goods such as advertising cards or sheets, to be displayed are exposed to view and the other extends in the horizontal plane of the table or desk on which it rests or is otherwise positioned conveniently at hand and accessible as a receiving receptacle for temporarily holding the goods, after they have been exhibited.

While the case may be used for displaying mer chandise of various kinds,it is designed and primarily intended for carryingadvertising displays and advertising material, ordinarily in sheet form.

In displaying the sheets, they are held in the easel'type tray, for conveniencein exposin them toview and as they are exhibited oneafter the other, they are temporarily placed in the TeceiV- 3 ing tray from which they are subsequently removed and restored to the original container before closing the same. 1

The trays that make up the case are hinged to ether end to end in opposin relation, to open into each other and proportioned to fold and completely telescope one into the other, thus reducing the case when closed, to the dimensions of a single 'tray, the advantage of which, in a portable case, will be obvious.

A feature that aids materially inenabling the hinge-connected trays to be folded together in complete telescoping relation, consists in utilizing the ,end wall of one'of the trays as a folding extension hinge between them. This is accomplished by hinging opposite edges of the end wall to the bottom edge of the adjoining ends 2 Claims, (01. 190-16)- the easel type'tray, in folded relation, fiat against the back of the tray, when the case is closed.

Other features of the invention, not specially mentioned above, will be brought to attention in the detail description that follows. The accompanying drawing will serve to illustrate a construction suitable for carrying the invention into effect but, it is to be understood, that no limitations are intended by this showing other than are imposed by the appended claims.

In the drawings-.

Fig. 1 is a view in perspective of the display case closed; j 1

Fig. 2-is a View in side elevation, partly in sctionQof the display case sh'ownfopened to about on the line's+'s of'Fig. 2 as it would appear, when closed, as shown in Fig. 1.

Referringznow to the drawingythe sample case, when'closed', as shown in Fig. 1, is in the form of a small upright suitcase and is provided at the upper end" with a conventional form of U shaped handle I, for convenience in carrying it about from place to place. A short trap 2, secured fast near the upper end 3 to the outer side of the folded-in tray of the case, hereinafter described, is provided at its opposite free end 4 with a snap fastener member 5 designed to'engage a mated memberfi on the outer side I of thebodyof the case-to hold the case closed,

of each of the trays, the arrangement being such that when the case is closed, the hinged wall assumes its normal position as an outer closure for the end of the tray in which the exhibited sheets are temporarily held and of which it forms a part, and when the case is opened, the wall folds down to the horizontal plan of the table or the like on which the case rests and forms a base support for the easel type tray above referred to.

, Another important feature of the invention consists in the use of a single snap fastener for securing a hinge-connected sectional support for the strap extending betweenthe attached ends of the U-shaped handle I, as shown. The arrangement of the strap 2 may obviously be reversed, if desired, or, if preferred, a small spring latch of conventional form may be substituted for the strap. 1

The case consists of an open tray-like body 1, the lower end wall 8 of which, as viewed in Fig. 1, is hinged along one edge to the body at 9 and to the'opposite free edge of the end wall 8, a display tray I!) is hinged at H and dimensioned to fold completely into the body member in telescoping relation and close the same, as shown in Figs. 1 and 4. A shoulder 8 on the end wall within the body tray to which the handle I is attached, serves as a stop to limit the depth of the telescoping action.

Constructed and arranged as described, the end wall 8 serves as a hinge extension of the display tray, that enables the tray to be positioned as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, to exhibit the goods or folded into the body member for transportation, as shown in Figs 1 and 4.

In opening the case and positioning the display tray, as in Figs. 2 and 3, to exhibit the goods, the end wall 8 is swung outward about the hinge 9 and comes to rest on the table or the like that supports the body tray, extending in the same horizontal plane as the main panel or wall of the body tray.

Thus positioned, the wall 8, in addition to normally closing the end of the body tray, alsoserves as a base support for the display tray, to which the latter is hinged along the edge I I as above described.

The display tray is given an easel effect when tray, there is a centrally positioned snap fastener, the. members I9 and 20 of which are cooperatively attached to the sections I2 and I3 of the tray .1

support, as shown in Fig. 2, and when engaged, hold the three hinge-connected sections of the support securely in folded position and against unfolding or other movement away from. the back of the tray. If considered desirable or necessary, additional snap fasteners may obviously be provided at or near opposite side edges of the sections I2 and I3, but they are not ordinarily required.

As the construction, operation and many important advantages of the invention will be apparent from the foregoing, it will not be necessary to describe the same at greater length.

1.. A portable sample case, formed of two per manently connected members relatively movable about the connection to permit opening and closing of the case at will, the said members being inv the form of two open trays, one serving as a sample-holding tray and the other as a closure for-the same, each tray being permanently walled in at the sides and one end only by a continuous rigid wall structure, fixedly secured, the trays be.-

ing hinged together at oneend and movable about the hinge to enter one into the other in telescoping relation with the open end of the sampleholding tray adjoining the permanently closed end of the closure tray, the connection between the trays being formed by hinging a panel that forms a movable end wall of the aforesaid closure tray at one edge to the bottom of the tray to open outwardly as a continuation of said tray bottom and hinging the opposite edge of the aforesaid panel to the bottom of the fixedly secured end wall that closes the adjoining end of the sample-holding tray, permitting the latter to be. moved about the hinged connection to any position desired and entered bodily into the first -mentioned tray with the hinge-connected end walls of the two trays folded one on the other in close relation forming a double thick reinforcementfor that portion that forms the bottom of the case when closed, a releasable fastener securing the free ends of the trays together to close the case, and means for supporting the sampleholding tray in an upright position when the case is open.

2. A portable sample case, as defined in claim 1, in which the side walls of the sample-holding tray extend from its Walled-in hinged end throughout a portion only of its length and terminate short of its opposite open free end, and a shouldered stop is provided in the closure tray near the top in the rigid end Wall thereof adapted to be engaged by the aforesaid free end of the first mentioned tray to limit the telescoping depth of one tray into the other and utilize the trays as closures for each other.

JAMES DALEO. SAMUEL FOGLIO, JR.

References. Cited in theI file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name. Date D. 110,256 Neuman June 28, 1938 588,636 Engstrom Aug. 24, 1897 716,139 Sturtevant Dec. 16, 1902 1,128,542 Steinthal Feb. 16, 1915 1,311,586 Beecher July 29, 1919 1,559,238 Fox Oct. 27, 1925 1,719,343 Strayer July 2, 1929 1,753,954 Townley et al. Apr. 8, 1930 2,090,780 Bonville Aug. 24, 1937 2,100,644 Groves- Nov. 30, 1937 2,405,744. Glass Aug. 13, 1946 2,480,918 Goldman Sept. 6, 1949 

